Stop the Trophy Hunting of Polar Bears

Tell the Obama Administration to end the trophy hunting of
polar bears. Send your comment to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service supporting an urgent upgrade in international protection
for the polar bear.

Polar bears are on the brink of extinction. They face the
loss of two-thirds of their total population by 2050, including
all of Alaska's polar bears, because of rising temperatures that
are literally melting their habitat. If that was not bad enough,
polar bears are being killed by big game hunters, and their body
parts are being sold on the global market, with a flourishing
international trade in polar bear skulls, teeth, claws and
skins.

Last year, the U.S. recognized the threat by listing polar
bears under the Endangered Species Act. Now it's time for the
U.S. to continue to lead by supporting an upgrade in the
international protection of polar bears under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Please act now to protect polar bears through CITES by
proposing and ensuring the listing of polar bears as an Appendix
I species. If polar bears are listed in CITES Appendix I, the
175 Parties to the Convention will be prohibited from importing
polar bears or polar bear parts for commercial purposes and
fewer animals will be killed for their teeth or claws.

This bold action by the U.S. could save hundreds or thousands
of polar bears in the next ten years alone. Controlling the
trophy hunting and trade in Canadian polar bears is especially
important to the species. Canada contains especially important
habitat for polar bears: not only do two-thirds of the world's
polar bears live in Canada, but most climate change models
predict that Canada will be the last place where the polar
bear's sea ice habitat persists in a warming world.

With the stakes so high for polar bears -- facing extinction
from global warming and the pollution of their habitat from oil
exploration -- the U.S. and other nations must act now to stop
the commercial trade of polar bears and their parts. Please act
now to ensure that polar bears secure the kind of international
protection under CITES that they need and deserve.

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